


It's the Thought That Counts

by Aeradae



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gift Exchange, Satinalia, Solavellan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:08:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6015886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeradae/pseuds/Aeradae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ana Lavellan wants her companions to participate in a gift exchange. Solas is not thrilled, but how can he disappoint his love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's the Thought That Counts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sircatherine](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sircatherine).



> This collab was done as a first place prize for sircatherine as part of a Christmas Giveaway I did with digiplease over on tumblr. It was a lot of fun to do, albeit a bit challenging, as Solavellan is not one of my main pairings.

Gorgeous art done by the wonderful [digiplease](http://www.digiplease.tumblr.com) and used with her permission!

\---

"I’m sorry, you want to do what?"

"I want us to have a little gift exchange, with all of us participating. The gifts don’t have to be extravagant, just a small token to show our appreciation for each other." Ana Lavellan perched on the edge of Solas's desk, her eyes wide in her eagerness.

"I am afraid that is not something that I would be very interested in, ma vhenan." Solas looked up from the large tome he was perusing, a small frown creasing his brow.

"Solas, please." Ana slid closer to him. "It would really mean a lot to me if you would join in."

"It might be better if I just observed, Inquisitor."

Ana took one of his hands in both her own, squeezing it gently. "Ma vhenan. Please, do this for me? Or at the very least, consider it?"

Solas sighed. "Very well. I will consider it."

“Thank you.”

Shortly after Ana left, Solas very narrowly avoided being hit in the head with a falling book.

“What is the meaning of this?” he called up to Dorian, who was inhabiting his usual corner of the library.

“You’d better be doing more than considering it.” Dorian came to the railing and leaned against it, another book in his hand.

"And why would I do that?”

Dorian shook his head. "As intelligent as you are, sometimes I really have to wonder about you. You do realize that this is very important to her, don’t you? And as the person she holds affection for, it’s especially important.”

“Gifts are not a subject I can say I am very interested in—“

Dorian sighed and shook his head. “It's not the gifts that she is so interested in. I assume she has told you about what happened to her in her clan?"

Solas nodded. "Yes, but--"

"For most of her life she felt like an outcast. She was left out when it came to most of their social events and it damaged her, I think even more than she admits. Now she has you and those of us that she can actually consider friends and loved ones, and she wants to do something that includes everyone. The gifts themselves don’t really mean anything. Sera could paint a bunch of rocks and give them to her, and I think she would love them because it’s the thought that counts. She wants to feel like she means something to those that she cares most about."

"I suppose you are right."

“So, what deep and thoughtful gift are you going to get her?” Dorian teased.

“Ah. Well…”

Dorian took pity on him. “Maybe we that are closest to her could all work together as a group and get her something from all of us?”

Solas thought for a moment, then nodded. “That is an excellent idea.”

“I shall discreetly gather up Cassandra and Sera and find you later on this afternoon then.”

\---

“Alright. We should be fairly quick about this meeting so that we are not discovered.” Dorian had gathered the four of them in a secluded corner of the battlements so that they could talk freely. “Now, it would be nice if we could do something special together for our beloved Inquisitor for this gift exchange. Does anyone have ideas or suggestions?”

“What about jewellery? Somethin’ pretty and shiny to make her smile, yeah?”

Dorian shook his head. “My dear Sera, do you ever look at the Inquisitor? She doesn’t wear that much jewellery.”

Cassandra nodded. “Besides, I think she was looking for us to give more meaningful gifts to each other. A necklace or ring, especially from what we know about her, seems so… so—“

“Materialistic?” Dorian supplied.

“Yes, thank you. So materialistic.”

“Whaddya wanna do, then? Everyone else is gonna get her nice smellin’ soaps and things, because she always goes crazy for that stuff.”  
“A nug,” Solas spoke up suddenly.

The others turned to him in confusion. “Is he losin’ his marbles?” Sera asked.

Solas controlled the urge to roll his eyes at her. “The Inquisitor might appreciate a pet as a gift. She seems to be fairly fond of them,” he explained.

“Hmm, he does have a point,” Dorian agreed. “She was quite upset with me the last time I accidentally shocked one with a stray bolt of lightning.”

Cassandra nodded in agreement. “How does one procure a nug, exactly? We can’t just go trap a wild one and expect it to behave.”

“Sera?” Solas tried to get the elf’s attention.

She looked up from where she had been doodling on the wall beside her. “Yeah? Whaddya want?”

“Would you be able to help us out with this? I believe you may know some people who could help us.”

“You want help from me?” Sera cackled. “I must be dreamin’.”

Solas frowned. “If you are going to be childish about it, I can ask someone else.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t get your breeches in a knot. Whaddya need?”

“We need to find someone who can acquire a nug for us. Not just any nug, either. It has to be tame, calm, maybe even sweet-tempered if possible.”

“Ohhhh, mister high and mighty elfy is admittin’ he doesn’t know it all?”

Solas made a noise of disgust. “I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to ask you.”

“Don’t sulk, Solas. I’ll do it; I’m good at findin` stuff. Lemme contact a few people, and I’ll get back to you.”

“Discreetly, if you please. It is supposed to be a surprise.”

“Don’t worry, she won’t hear nothin’ from me.” Sera tilted her head to look at him seriously for a moment. “I’m actually impressed. That’s pretty thoughtful, Egghead.”

Dorian rubbed his hands together excitedly. “This is excellent. Please let us know if you need some assistance finding the nug, Sera. In the meantime, I am going to make it a nice bow to put around its neck.”

“We should probably move along now, lest someone discover our unusual gathering and start asking the wrong questions.” Cassandra began to wander away, checking on the soldiers on the battlements as she passed them. The others casually dispersed one at a time soon after to work on their other gifts.

\---

When the day of the gift exchange came, the Inquisitor and her companions found themselves sitting together in the tavern. There was a lot of laughter as the gifts were opened. Some of them were quite lovely and thoughtful, but others were just outright strange. Somehow most of the others knew about the special gift being given to the Inquisitor. They too insisted Ana open her gifts last. Despite being intrigued, she did not press the issue.

Ana looked around when it was finally time for the last gift. “So, where is this highly anticipated gift?”

“Well, we couldn’t exactly bring it inside. You will have to close your eyes so we can take you to the gift.” Dorian pulled out a silk scarf and tied it over Ana’s eyes, making sure that it was snug and that it completely blocked out her vision.

Ana raised an eyebrow. “Is my gift that large?”

Sera snickered and elbowed Iron Bull in the side before shuffling closer to Ana. “You’ll hafta wait and see what your gift is, missy.”

“If even Sera is keeping it to herself, it must be a very special gift indeed,” Ana teased.

“Hey, I know how to keep stuff quiet,” Sera replied. “Most of the time I just don’t want to.” She grinned as she helped Ana to her feet. “Cassandra, you should carry her out there so we can get her there faster.”

Cassandra scowled. “I will do no such thing!”

“I’m still perfectly able to walk, thank you. You will just have to guide me and make sure I don’t fall down or trip on anything.” She held out her arms, Dorian taking one and Sera the other, before setting off towards the door. The companions trailed after her, most hurrying to keep up. Cassandra motioned for Solas to walk at the rear with her.

“I’m glad that you helped to orchestrate all of this,” Cassandra murmured as they trailed behind the others.

“You are?”

Cassandra’s gaze softened. “That was a very kind thing for you to do. I know that she will really appreciate it. More than you even know.”

Solas tilted his head and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“More than anything, she wants to be shown that her affection is not misplaced, that the people she loves do indeed love her back. With you, and with us, she can finally have that. She finally seems to be happy, and I hope that she stays that way. She deserves that much, at least.” Before Solas could ask any further questions, Cassandra increased her stride to catch up to the others.

There was a cage set up in a cleared area of the courtyard, covered in a large fur to hide what was inside. “What is that?” she breathed, her heart fluttering in excitement as the blindfold was removed.

“Why don’t you open it and find out?” Dorian invited with a grin.

Ana moved closer to the cage slowly, a bit nervous about what she would find there, but at the same time incredibly curious. She listened for a moment to see if the noises it made would give it away, but whatever was inside hardly made a sound. She grabbed one corner of the fur and slowly began to pull it back.

Varric pulled out his journal and began to furiously write, muttering about how this would be a better story if whatever was underneath breathed fire. Cassandra glared at him and muttered for him to be quiet and not ruin the surprise.

Ana paused and looked over at her companions. “It’s... it’s not going to breathe fire on me or something, is it?” she asked timidly.

“Look what you’ve done, Varric. No, Inquisitor, I promise you that it will not harm you,” Cassandra replied reassuringly.

“Alright, if you’re sure...”

“Oh, get on with it!” Sera called impatiently.

Closing her eyes, Ana got a firmer grip on the fur and wrenched it off. After a moment and a deep breath she opened them. And gasped.  
It was a nug, its large eyes bright and curious as it wandered around in the cage, an elegant blue bow tied around its neck. From its small size it appeared to be fairly young. It wandered close to where she stood when it noticed she was there.

“Why hello there,” Ana crooned. The nug’s ears pricked forward as it listened intently. She went to the cage door and carefully unlocked it. “Am I able to bring it out, or will it get frightened and run away?”

“It should be perfectly tame, my dear. Just don’t make any sudden movements until she gets used to you.” Dorian waved off her concerns and motioned for her to continue.

She settled on her knees just outside the cage door before opening it a little. The nug paused for a few moments, considering her, before slowly edging forward. Ana held out a hand for her to sniff. The nug snorted indignantly when she realized there was nothing in Ana’s palm and retreated a little. “I’m sorry, little one. I would have brought you something if I had known about you.”

“I think she likes listening to the sound of your voice,” Cassandra observed as the nug tilted her head and looked up at Ana’s face as she spoke.

Ana waited patiently as the nug carefully came closer. She slowly reached out to pet her, and was happy to see that while she looked slightly uncomfortable with the new gesture for a few moments, she didn’t shy away from her hand. She moved her hands underneath then nug’s belly, and when she saw she didn’t seem to mind carefully lifted her into her lap. There were tears in her eyes as the nug relaxed and snuffled at her clothing curiously. Getting to her feet, she settled the nug more comfortably in her arms and made her way back to the others. "Thank you, all of you. This is an amazing gift."

“We had fun tryin’ to find her. Dorian almost singed his fancy moustache off.” Sera giggled as Dorian glared at her.

“I did nothing of the sort,” he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “But you are welcome, my dear.”

“You are most welcome. It was all Solas’s idea, actually,” Cassandra confessed. “We thought it was a wonderful idea and were simply happy to help.”

Ana looked at Solas in surprise. “You did this? I thought you weren’t really interested in my gift exchange idea.”

Solas coughed slightly into his hand. “I suppose I was convinced that it wasn’t as silly of an idea as I originally thought.”

Ana walked over to Solas and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.” She turned to look at each of those gathered before her. “Thank you, all of you, for making this one of the most memorable days I’ve ever had.”

As she spoke the nug began to dig at Solas’s chest with her nose. He backed away slightly, and the nug made a small sound of protest. “What does it want?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

Ana giggled at the look on Solas’s face. “I think she just likes you, is all. Or she might be looking for a treat.”

“I have nothing for you,” Solas said to the nug. It turned back to Ana and nuzzled her neck.

“Poor thing. Don’t worry, he will come to love you in time,” she soothed.

“One thing, if I may? I’d rather nothing have it... her... running around my room, if you don’t mind.”

Ana laughed. “Alright. At least until you get used to her.”

Sera snickered. “Careful Solas, she might end up in your bed, yeah? Accidentally and all that.”

“Sera, aren’t we forgetting something?” Cassandra spoke up suddenly.

“Forgettin’—Oh! Yeah, be right back.” Sera rushed over toward the stable, returning a few minutes later with a bundle in her arms.

Ana opened it to reveal a nug-sized black collar and leash. “Oh, these are adorable!” she cried, eyes tearing up once more. She knelt with the nug settled in her lap to place the collar around her neck beneath the bow. The nug protested for a few moments, but quieted as she got used to the feeling of the leather against her skin.

“Oh, can we take it for a walk now?” Sera asked excitedly.

“Yes, that seems like a good idea. Solas, would you like to come with us?” Ana asked as she looked over at her love.

Solas considered saying no, but resisted when he saw the eagerness in Ana’s eyes. He didn’t have the heart to make her sad on this special day. “Yes,” he replied instead. “Of course I will go with you, ma vhenan. Lead the way.”


End file.
